Apparatus for discharging projectiles by centrifugal force



March 13, 1926. I 1,662,629

- B. F. S. BADEN-POWELL APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING PROJECTILES BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE Filed June 6. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 13, 1928. 1,662,629

. B. F. s. BADEN-POWELL APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING PROJECTILES BY GENTRIFUGAL FORCE Filed June 6,' 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 13, 1928. i

" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING PROJECTILES BY CEN'IFIR-IFUGAL FORCE.

Application filed June 6, 1927, Serial No. 196,768, and in Great Britain June 18, 1926.

i The invention relates to in'iprovements in apparatus for discharging projectiles by centrifugal force and comprises a barrel or a plurality of barrels radiating from a central chamber carried on a rotatable shaft, the in ner ends of the barrels entering the said chamber, together with means, operable at will, adjacent the said rotatable shaft for loading projectiles to the central chamber,

the projectiles being discharged through the barrels, upon rotation of the shaft by centrifugal force.

The invention will be further described. with reference to an example of construction shown in the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 is apart sectional plan of the apparatus showing the rotating barrels in a stationary casing the top half of which latter has been removed. Fig. 2 is a part sectional elevation of the apparatus, drawn to a larger scale, showing mechanism for releasing the projectiles, which are normally contained in a stationary magazine, to the central chamber upon the operation of a trigger (not shown in the drawings), Fig.

l 3 is a plan of Fig. 2 with the top half of the aforesaid stationary casing removed to show the central chamber intowhich the projectiles are fed, and means to co-act with the trigger mechanism to prevent the projectiles being discharged into the central chamber until the latter has attained a desired rotary speed to discharge the projectiles from the barrels. Fig. 4 is a plan View showing the aperture in the upper half of the stationary casing through which the projectiles are fed from themagazine, upon the operation of the trigger mechanism, to the central chamber, and Fig. 5 is apart sectional elevation of one of the barrels showing friction rollers to be hereinafter more particul arly described.

In the example, the apparatus is shown as having two opposite radially disposed arms A, B, forming the barrel casing and having barrels A B therein, the inner ends of the barrels A B entering a central. chamber G, into which latter the projec tiles D are loaded. upon the operation of trigger operated mechanism to be hereafter more particularly described, from the sta tionary magazine D the central chamber 0 being mounted on, a rotatable shaft G which latter may be, rotated by any suitable means, such as: gearing, for instance.

Upon rotation of the shaft C in the dip re ction of the arrow and the loading of a projectile at a predetermined. period, into the central chamber C, the projectile will be caused to travel along one of the respective barrels in a direction away from the axis of the shaft 0 due to centrifugal force, the speed of travel of the projectile being proportional to the speed of rotation of the shaft To ensure the release, at the will. of the operator, of a projectile to the central charm b er C at the correct time for it to be fed to the approaching barrel, a trigger-operated stop is provided comprising a vertical mem ber E attached at its upper end to one arm of a. pivoted bell-crank lever F, the said member having a projecting pin E adjacent the lower end thereof adapted to en gage with the lower surface of a ring G forming part of the barrel casing. When the member E is in. the position shown in Fig. 2 the projectiles D are prevented from falling, by gravity, into the central chamber C. by the member E. Upon operating a trigger (not shown in the drawing, but which may be of any conventional type) to pull on the flexible member H (in thefdi rection of the arrow) the said bell-crank lever will raise the vertical. member E until the pin E contacts with the under surface of the ring G. The ring G- has cut-away portions G which, when the ring is rotated, will allow the pin E to be moved under pressure on the trigger, up through one of the said cut-away portions, onto the upper surface of the ring G and permit the pro jectile to fall into the chamber C.

Upon release of pressure on. the trigger, the pin E will be held onto the upper surface of the ring G by the spring F and. as the rotation of the ring G continues the pin E will travel. down the inclined slot G to the underside of the ring G thus returning the member E to its original position to prO vent the supply of projectiles to the chain ber C. In the example shown, having two barrels, there will therefore be two cut-away portions G and two slots G to allow the trigger-operated stop to be raised, upon pressure on the trigger, and lowered by the spring I, twice in one rcvolutitm of the barrels, so as to cmisecutively supply a projectile to each barrel.

.In order to prevent the projectile being discharged into the central chamber C before the chamber has acquired a desired speed to discharge the projectile from the fill employed consisting of a slidable block J,

which when in its operative positiontFi gs- 2 and 3); extends into the cut-away portlon G to prevent the pin E of the member E passing. up. through the cutaway portion onto the upper surface of the ring G, the said block. J being carried on an arm J passing through the ring G and connected to a flexible supporting member J attached at one end to the periphery of the ring G, the free end of the said supporting member J having a weight J thereon, which flexible member J as the speed of the ring increases, moves, due to centrifugal force, in an outward direction thereby similarly moving the block J in the cut-away portion G a sui'licient amount for the pin E to pass up through the cut-away portion, and thus allow the projectile to fall into the central chamber C. Upon decrease of the speed of rotation below a predetermined amount, the block J will again move in the cut-away por tion G and prevent the vertical member E and pin E being moved by pressure on the trigger to release the projectile into the chamber C.

The rotating barre-l casings A, B, may be enclosed in a stationary casing, consisting of an upper half K and a lower half K the two halves of the easing being'connected together by' means of, for instance, a flange on the upper half K engaging with a bent over flanged part of the lower half of the casing. An aperture K (Fig. 1) is formed in the wall of the casing for the discharge of the projectiles, which pass therethrough at a tangent to the casing.

The projectiles are fed from the station ary casing to the central chamber C, through an aperture in the upper half K of the easing, the said casing being cut and bent down adj acent-said aperture to form a downwardly inclined uid'e K forthe projectiles, the trigger-operated stop co-acting with the said inclined guide K to control the supply to the central chamber C, ofprojectiles.

The barrels A B are curved in the manner shown in the drawing, so that the discharge ends of the respective barrels point in opposite parallel directions.

Since an elongated projectile in progressing at a high speed along the curved barrels A B will cause great frictional pres sure, a plurality of friction rollers L are arranged along the outer side, that is, along that portion where the centrifugal force will cause great pressure.

In order to cause such an elongated projectile to spin about its longer axis. the friction rollers are mounted so that their axes are slightly inclined tothe course of the projectiles (see Fig. 5) so that as they revolve they will impart an upward or downward motion to the side of the projectile which is pressing against them, and thus cause the projectile to spin.

The projectile may be a small round shot, along bullet, a bomb or grenade, a smoke or light ball or a large shell.

hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Patent is 1..Apparatus for discharging projectiles by centrifugal force comprising a central chamber, a rotatable shaft to carry said chamber, means for rotating said shaft, barrels carried by and radiating from said chan'ibcr, a trigger-operated stop to co-act with a ring forming part of the barrel casing, said ring having cut-away portions on its inner periphery to allow said trigger-op eratedstop to be moved and projectiles supplied to said central chamber to be discharged therefrom through said barrels by centrifugal force.

2. Apparatus for discharging projectiles by centrifugal force comprising a central chamber, a rotatable shaft to carry said chamber, means for rotating said shaft, barrels carried by and radiating from said chamber, a trigger-operated stop comprising a vertical member attached at its upper end to a pivoted bell-crank lever, said vertical member having a pin adjacent the lower end thereof to co-act with the ring forming part of the barrel casing to control the supply of projectiles to said central chamber.

3. In apparatus for discharging projectiles by centrifugal force comprising a central chamber, a rotatable shaft to carry said chamber, means for rotating said shaft, barrels carried by and radiating from said chamber, a trigger-operated stop to co-act with a ring forming part of the barrel casing said ring having cut-away portions therein to control the supply of projectiles to said central chamber, means to prevent said projectiles being supplied to said chamher before said chamber has acquired a desired speed to discharge said projectile from the apparatus.

a. In apparatus for discharging projectiles by centrifugal force comprising a central chamber, a rotatable shaft to carry said chamber, means for rotating said shaft, barrels carried by and radiating from said chamber, a trigger-operated stop to co-aet with a ring forming part of the barrel casing said ring have cut-away portions therein, to control the supply of projectiles to said central chamber, a centrifugal regulator consisting of a slidable block carried on an arm connected to a flexible supporting member, attached at one end to the outer periph cry of said ring said supporting member having a weight adjacent the other end thereof, said block being moved in said cutaway portion of said ring, upon rotation of the latter, by centrifugal force to allow said trigger-operated stop to be operated to re lease the projectiles to said central chamber.

5. Apparatus for discharging projectiles by centrifugal force comprising a central chamber, a rotatable shaft to carry said chamber, means for rotating said shaft, curved barrels carried by and radiating from said chamber, a trigger-operated stop to co-act with a ring forming part of the barrel casing said ring having cut-away portions therein to control the supply of projectiles to said central chamber, a centrifugal regulator, a stationary casing comprising an upper and lower half and having an aperture formed in the wall thereof for the discharge of projectiles, said casing also having a downwardly inclined guide in the upper half thereof to co-act with said trigger-operated stop to control the supply of projectiles to said chamber.

6. Apparatus for discharging projectiles by centrifugal force comprising a central chamber, a rotatable shaft to carry said chamber, means for rotating said shaft, curved barrels carried by and radiating from said chamber, friction rollers arranged along that portion of said curved barrels where the passage of the projectile will cause great frictional resistance, a trigger-operated stop to co-act with a ring forming part of the barrel casing said ring having cutaway portions therein to control the supply of projectiles to the central chamber, a stationary casing having an aperture formed in the wall thereof for the discharge of projectiles, said casing also having a downwardly inclined guide in the upper part thereof to co-act with said trigger-operated stop to control the supply of projectiles to said chamber.

7. Apparatus for discharging projectiles by centrifugal force comprising a central chamber, a rotatable shaft to carry said chamber, means for rotating said shaft, curved barrels carried by and radiatin from said chamber, friction rollers arrange along that portion of said curved barrels where the passage of the projectile will cause great frictional resistance, the said rollers beinr mounted so that their axes are slightly inclined to the course of the projectile, a trigger-operated stop to co-act with a ring forming part of the barrel casing said ring having cut-away portions therein 7 BADEN FLETCHER SMYTH BADEN-IOWELL, 

